Fangs
by Polki
Summary: Neither Harry nor his younger brother Tom were marked as the Dark Lord's equal, so why do the Potters still have so many problems?


Revised: 11/23/12

Chapter 1

Lily held her newborn for the first time. She smiled serenely, tears of joy sliding down the side of her face.

"A blue-eyed beauty, huh?" James said. He smiled at Lily. "Just like my mother."

Lily knew how much he missed his mother. "Would you…" she paused. "Would you like to name him after her?"

"Oh Lils, I know how much naming our children means to you." He rubbed the top of the child's head gently. "Besides, I'm not sure 'Dorea' would be a good name!"

Lily chuckled. "Obviously it'd be something like Dorian, or Dolohov."

They both shuttered at the second name.

"On second thought, I'll choose a name." She looked at her newborn son. "Something nice and simple, like Harry is."

"Something with a nickname," James put in. "There's only so many variations on 'Harry' that Padfoot and I can come up with."

"What, Hairy Harry? Not creative."

James pouted.

The midwife came into the room. "I have your naming ceremony prepared. Are you ready yet?"

Lily tried to think back to all the names she'd prepared before the birth, but couldn't remember a single one. "Just one more minute, please."

"Alright," the woman said and left the room. She was used to parents taking a long time to choose a name.

Lily gazed down at her son again and kissed his forehead softly. As her lips made contact, a chill went down her spine, and something whispered in her mind _Tom…_

She looked at the child's calm, bright blue eyes again. "What about Thomas?"

"Thomas," James repeated. "Tom. I like that. Harry, Tom, and Neville, the new marauders!" He laughed. "Hogwarts won't know what hit it!"

"If _I_ have anything to say about it, our children will _not_ be pranksters of any kind!" She gently handed Tom off to his father.

"Oh, Lily, I wouldn't teach them anything they didn't already want to learn."

"We should finish the naming ceremony so we can show little Tommy to everyone. I'm sure Harry is dying to know what his kid brother looks like!"

Suddenly, Albus Dumbledore apparated into the room. "I'm sorry to have to deliver this bad news on such a joyous occasion."

Lily's eyes widened. "He's found them, hasn't he?"

Albus nodded, his face grim, and Lily wept over her new born son.

James looked at Albus' face, and for a second he thought he saw hatred directed his way, but when he blinked it was gone.

o.O.v.O.o

Tom was crying again.

Harry buried his face into the covers and covered his head with his pillow, but he could still hear his kid brother. "Mum!" he yelled, but she didn't come.

Finally, fed up, he opened the door to their shared room, closed it behind him and went down the hall. His mum wasn't in her bedroom, so he went to the living room where a light was on.

"I don't know what to do," he heard his mother say as he was about to enter the room. Harry hid so his mother didn't see him and he could listen. "You're sure it's Tom…"

"You said the name came to you," a second person said. Harry recognized it as Mr. Dumbledore. "And his looks, Lily, I've shown you the photographs."

"I- I know," his mum said. "I just wish we could be a normal family."

"Be thankful for what you have. Not all are as lucky."

There was a silence between them for a few moments.

"You're right. I still have my sons, and that's all that matters. Even if James is-"

They stopped talking abruptly, then Dumbledore said "Harry?"

Harry walked into the room. "Tom's crying again. He's annoying. I can't sleep."

Lily walked over to Harry and, with a little difficulty at his large size picked him up, bringing him back to his room. "Oh Harry, I've told you before that your brother is just colic. It's not his fault."

"But why can't he sleep with you, then? Or why can't we go back home?"

"This is our home now, Harry, I've told you that. And," she kissed his cheek, "It's a big brother's duty to take care of his little brother. That includes sleeping in the same room as him."

"Then I don't wanna be a big brother!"

Lily sighed and set Harry down so she could open the door. Harry laid in his bed as Lily picked up his crying brother and rocked him, singing to him until he fell asleep. She gently set him down and whispered to Harry "Goodnight, my little Prince."

As she was walking away, she heard Harry say "I didn't mean it, Tommy, I do wanna be your big brother always, just can you please be quieter?"

o.O.v.O.o

Harry was five when he first started having accidental magic, so it was no surprise that, six days after Christmas, on Tom's fifth birthday, he floated a piece of cake to the counter when his mother told him to wait.

"Hey, I want cake too!" Seven-year-old Harry said, but Tom just stuck out his tongue and took some frosting off with his finger.

Lily turned around and the knife in her hand that she had been using to cut the cake fell to the floor. "Oh, shoot." She picked it up and put it in the sink, then got a paper towel to clean up the frosting on the floor.

"Super-cool-wizard-powers ACTIVATE!" Tom said. "Floor, become clean!"

"Magic doesn't work like that, idiot," Harry said.

"Harry, don't call your brother an idiot," Lily said, cleaning up the mess.

"Sorry, mum," he said automatically. "You gotta use a wand and magic words!"

"But I didn' need no wand or words to make the cake come to me!"

"That's cause it's _accidental magic_. Mum told me all about it when I started doing it."

Tom didn't look convinced, but he seemed to forget about the conversation when Lily gave him a fork to dig into his cake with.

"Wait!" Harry said before Tom could eat, then stuck a candle in Tom's piece of cake. It was magic and lit up when Harry pinched the wick. "Make a wish and blow it out."

"I wish Dad would come home!" Tom said and blew out the candle.

"You're not supposed to say it," Harry mumbled, but since Tom had already mentioned his father, and it was Tom's birthday, maybe his mother would be more lenient and actually tell them something about him. He looked at his mother and asked "when is dad coming home from his business trip?"

Their mother was frozen. Harry had to repeat the question before she finally said simply "not today."

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Lily went to the door, and when she had a haunted look on her face and a bouquet of six Lily's in her hands.

"Mum got a present on my birthday! Who're they from?"

"An old friend. Very old. Now eat your cake," she said as she put the flowers into an already prepared vase.

o.O.v.O.o

It was a few weeks later when his mum dropped him and his brother off at her sister's house. "Family is important," she said on their relative's porch. "Aunt Petunia and Uncle Veron have a child a little older than you, Dudley, and I'd like you two to be nice. I'll pick you guys up in a couple hours."

She rang the doorbell and a slim, horse-faced woman opened it. "Hello again, Lily," she said with a slight sour look on her face.

"Thank-you for taking them on such short notice," Lily said. "I'll be back in a few hours."

"It's that good-for-nothing husband of yours again, isn't it?" At Lily's hesitant nod, she shrieked at the children "well, come off the doorstep. Dudley's just sitting down for snacks, so you two can go to the kitchen. It's on the left."

Harry and Tom walked down the hall and into the kitchen. They stood awkwardly in the doorway. A fat boy was at the table, stuffing chocolate cake into his mouth with his hands. Harry looked at Tom, but Tom was looking at the floor so Harry broke the ice "You're Dudley, right?"

The fat boy looked up from his cake. "Whomsre 'oo?" he asked, his mouth full.

Aunt Petunia came into the kitchen then, pulled three forks out of a drawer and gave one to Dudley. "I suppose you two would like cake as well?"

Again, Tom stayed silent so Harry said "Yes please."

"Well, at least she taught you some manners," the woman said. She cut off two small slices and set them on the table along with the forks. Tom and Harry sat down and ate.

"Dudley, these are your cousins. They'll be staying here for a few hours, then they'll leave."

Dudley took a large gulp of milk, then said "more cake!" completely ignoring what his mother had just said.

"Of course, Diddykins, whatever you want."

Once Dudley had his fill of cake and Harry and Tom were finished, Aunt Petunia sent them into the playroom to do whatever it is kids do.

"So," Harry said to the other two kids, "what do you wanna do?"

"We'll play cops and robbers," Dudley said. "Imma be the cop and you two be the robbers."

"What's a cop?" Harry asked.

Dudley laughed. "You don' know what a cop is?"

Harry blushed in embarrassment and because he was annoyed, and shook his head. "Is it like aurors?"

"Cops catch bad guys and they always win. You two are the robbers so I gotta catch you! Go outside and climb in through the window."

Harry looked at Tom. "Do you wanna play?"

Tom shrugged, still staying silent, which was very strange for him. Normally, he was a ball of energy. Then again, they hadn't actually hung out with many other kids their own age before.

"Well, get on with it!" Dudley said. "I don't got all day to play with you babies!"

Tom mumbled something.

"What was that, _baby?_"

"I said," Tom said louder, "I'm not a baby!" Tom ran at Dudley and punched him in the stomach.

"Ow, you little shit!" Dudley said, hunching over for a second before standing straight again. He cocked back his arm, but Harry pulled Tom away before Dudley could hit him.

"I'm sorry for my brother," Harry apologized, "He's only five; he doesn't know better. Tom, say you're sorry."

Tom crossed his arms and pouted. "But I'm not! He deserved it!"

Harry looked fearfully at the older, fuming boy. "If you don't say sorry," he told his brother quietly, "I'll tell mum what you did."

Albus thought for a few seconds. Suddenly his face went blank and he looked at Dudley. "I'm… sorry," he said quietly

"LIAR!" Dudley yelled and socked the young boy in the face.

"Hey, don't mess with my younger brother!" Harry said and jumped on Dudley's back. His legs wrapped around Dudley's large form while he smacked his head as many times as he could.

Dudley couldn't grab Harry, so he ran his back into the wall and Harry fell off. Harry sat on the floor, the world spinning. "I'll beat you up good!" Dudley said with a smirk on his face. Suddenly, something hard hit the back of Dudley's head. He spun around.

"Leave my brother alone," Tom said angrily, another toy car in his hand, ready to be thrown.

"Make me, runt."

The room began making whirring and other weird sounds. Harry looked around and saw that all the toys were coming to life, and they were all going towards his cousin.

"I'd watch out if I were you," Harry said with a smirk.

Dudley looked around. "Wh-what's going on? MUM!"

The door to the playroom slammed shut before Petunia could come in. "Duddikins!" she yelled from the other side.

A toy helicopter flew into the air and raced towards Dudley. He ducked just before it would have hit him. "MUM!" Dudley fell to the floor and put his arms over his head. He started sobbing.

"Tom," Harry said when the toys continued to move towards the fat boy, "I think you scared him enough."

"No," Tom said. Toy soldiers jumped on Dudley and started stabbing him with plastic swords and guns. Dudley tried brushing them off, but that just opened him up for the helicopter to hit his face. He hit it away, but his nose was dripping with blood.

"Tom! Stop!" Harry pleaded.

But Tom was staring at the blood dripping from Dudley's nose, and he gave a creepy smile. Outside, Petunia was banging on the door, screaming for her son.

As a tank closed in on the fat boy, Harry screamed "STOP!" Everything in the room stopped moving except his quivering cousin.

The door slammed open as Petunia rushed in and wrapped her arms around her son. "You devil boys!" she spat at the Potters. "Get out of my house!"

Harry grabbed Tom's hand and dragged him out of the house. "What were you thinking, Tom? You could have seriously hurt him!"

"But he was hurting you!"

"Yeah, but once he's sobbing on the floor you gotta stop! Good people hurt for self-defense, bad people hurt when they're safe! That's what mum always told us!"

Tears shined in Tom's eyes. "I know, 'arry, but-"

"No buts. You- you scared me when you hurt him. I'm supposed to protect you, not the other way around. Promise you won't do it again."

Tom nodded. "I promise."

Harry smiled.

o.O.v.O.o

After their mum yelled at them for two straight hours, Tom became a bit more withdrawn. He was still a happy five-year-old, but he seemed to choose his words and actions more carefully than before, when before he'd just say and do whatever he wanted. Also, he tended to purposely annoy their mum whenever he could.

One day, when Tom was six, Lily and Tom got into a yelling argument that ended with Tom screaming at the top of his lungs, which broke all the windows in the house.

"Tom," Harry said in their room. Their mum was going around the entire house and cleaning up the windows, so they were alone. "You're making mum sad."

"I did it on purpose," Tom said softly.

"Why do you want mum sad?"

"No!" Tom said. He looked at Harry, his eyes shining brightly. "I wanted the windows to break."

"It's just accidental magic, Tom."

Tom shook his head. "Not for me. Look." Tom reached out his hand. Nothing happened.

"See?" Harry said.

"No, wait! Just watch!" Tom closed his eyes. As Harry watched, his face got more and more tense, when suddenly it went slack. Harry felt a shiver down his spine as Tom's eyes snapped open. They were burning with anger, and a teddy bear from across the room flew into his outstretched arm.

The anger was gone as soon as it came and Tom now had a smile on his face, but Harry couldn't forget it.

"See? I made it come to me!"

"Cool," Harry said with a weak smile.

That night, when Tom was asleep, Harry sat in his bed and tried making the same teddy bear float to him, but no matter how hard he concentrated or how angry he made himself the teddy bear didn't budge. It felt like he'd eaten something bad when he realized that his brother was more talented than him.

o.O.v.O.o

One day, Harry caught Tom reading a book. It wasn't unusual that he was reading – their mum had taught them both to read from an early age – the weird thing was that it was a large book, and Harry had never seen it before.

"Whatcha reading?" Harry Tom.

"Nothing!" Tom quickly shut the book and tried to hide it, but the older boy took it from his arms, sat down cross-legged next to his brother and opened it.

"Where did you get this?" Harry asked quickly. It was their Mother's first-year charms textbook.

"The cabinet, I unlocked it." Tom looked proud.

Harry looked through the book. There were lots of spells in it, and some Tom had doggy-eared.

"I'm gonna try doing some of this stuff," Tom said.

Harry was torn between telling his mum Tom was breaking the rules (they were told never to go into the cabinet with spellbooks) and wanting to learn magic himself, if only to catch up to his younger brother. "If you let me into the cabinet," Harry said, "and teach me how you unlocked it, I won't tell mum what you're reading. Deal?"

"Deal!"

Harry took the book back to the cabinet. He tried opening it, but it was locked. "Ok, how do you unlock it?"

Tom put his hand over the lock and closed his eyes. "It's like, I'm seeing the lock. And I know that the latch is keeping the door shut. So I tell the latch to move – I _make_ it move, and" –click- "it unlocks." Tom put the book back and shut the case. "Now you try locking it."

Harry put his hand over the lock. _Lock, lock, LOCK!_ He said over and over in his head. Nothing happened. He tried imagining the bolt, imagining it sliding back into place.

"You gotta tell it to lock. It's like you're controlling the bolt, and all your magic is kinda just inside it and it moves because you tell it too. Like your magic is fingers, but not really."

Harry didn't really get what his younger brother was trying to tell him, so he just concentrated on the lock harder, eyes screwed shut, _telling_ it to lock, _it would obey him_-

"Harry! Tom!"

Harry's eyes snapped open and his heart jumped. The lock 'clicked' back into place, and Harry jumped back.

"What are you boys doing? I told you not to try to get into this cabinet!"

"Sorry, mum," Harry said.

"I thought I saw a bug," Tom said with a large smile, all the previous seriousness gone. "It was giant! Practically the size of my hand! It prolly could of eaten me whole!"

"Oh Tom," she said with a small smile. "We have wards on the property against dangerous creatures, you know that. It won't harm you."

There was a bitter taste in Harry's mouth at lying to his mum, but he wasn't the one doing the lying, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

However, later that day, when Tom and Harry went back to the bookcase, they found that it had more protections and Tom couldn't open it.

"You told mum that we were getting in the bookcase, didn't you?"

Harry shook his head. "Of course not. She must have guessed, or seen that the book was put back differently or something."

"Liar!" Tom said, his face filled with rage. "Tell the truth!"

Harry began to get a headache, so he gripped his forehead but it was suddenly gone. "I am!" He yelled back. "I didn't tell her; I'm not a squealer!"

There were tears in Tom's eyes. "You told her, and now I can't learn magic!" Tom _pushed_ with his arms and Harry flew back.

There was silence for a couple seconds, before Tom broke it. "I- I HATE YOU!" he screamed and ran off.

Lily rushed into the room. "Are you alright, Harry?"

Harry nodded, all his anger gone. "Yeah. Fine." Harry looked at his mother, her eyes filled with worry. "You knew we were in the book case and not looking for a bug, didn't you?"

"I'm your mother, I know everything." She sighed. "Harry, you know… that you're normal for your age, right?"

"But Tom-"

"Forget about your brother." Lily knelt down, looking in her son's eyes. "Tom is a magical anomaly. He is extremely strong for his age. But that means he's weak." At Harry's questioning look, she said "He's weak to overconfidence, which can make him egocentric. This means that, in trying to stay the best, he's also weak to the lure of power, to the dark arts. Do you understand, Harry?"

"So… he's strong, but if someone stronger comes along Tom'll want to beat them?"

Lily nodded. "Exactly, Harry." She hugged her son. "So what you need to do," she whispered in his ear, "is protect him. Make sure he never turns to the dark side for any reason. And if he does," Lily paused, "I want you to become strong enough to stop him, in both your heart and your magic." She released Harry and sat back on her heals, looking Harry in the eyes. "Can you do that for me, Harry?"

Harry thought about it, not really understanding what his mum meant by heart _and_ magic, and he couldn't even imagine stopping his brother, but decided to nod anyways.

"Good." Lily smiled a little sadly. "Now, you'll be eleven in two years, then off to Hogwarts. Between now and then, I want you to work with your brother." She took a key out of her pocket and unlocked the bookcase, then took out the charms book Tom had before as well as an introductory transfiguration book and a book on self-defense that was all spells. Lily handed them to Harry. "I want you both to learn from these books, but _only_ these books. Read _all _the safety procedures, especially for transfiguration, before attempting anything. While your brother is a natural at magic, I need you to… control him and help him, keep him from blowing up the house." She laughed lightly. "After all, you're best at that."

"But," Harry said quietly, "He said he hated me."

"Oh sweetheart." She hugged her son again. "When families say they hate each other, they just do it out of anger. They don't mean it – he doesn't mean it. Anger is a short madness that clouds the judgment of the best of us. Go talk to him; tell him I said you two could learn magic. He'll forgive you."

Harry nodded, but before he left he said "Why can't you teach us mum?"

Lily looked away and Harry thought he saw a tear in her eye. "I'll tell you when you're older."

o.O.v.O.o

"No, remember what the books said? We can't transfigure things into liquids, so we can't do beads of water!"

"But," an eight-year-old Tom said, "what if it was jelly-like stuff?" Tom waved his hand and beads that looked like water appeared on the petals of the rose they were transfiguring. "There, now they won't fall off! And it's all done!"

Harry looked at the picture of the rose they were using as a base for their transfiguration. "Still need thornes." He held the stem and concentrated really hard. Small, dulled thorns began to sprout from the stem, ones that weren't pointy enough to prick skin. "_Now _it's done."

They both looked at the rose. "Think mum'll like it?" Tom asked.

Harry grinned. "Only one way to find out."

They put the rose in a box lined with tissue paper, then brought it to Lily, who was making supper in the kitchen. "Happy Mothering Day!" the children said together.

"Oh, thank-you." She opened the box. "A rose! And it's so beautiful!"

"We made it together," Harry said proudly.

"Although I could have made it by myself," Tom mumbled.

Harry elbowed his younger brother. "You would have forgotten the thorns."

"Maybe," Tom conceded. "Oh, and mum! I made you something else! Wait here." He ran off.

Harry felt his stomach churn as he watched his brother leave. They'd agreed to just give the rose they made together. What did Tom not tell him about?

Tom came back with a beautiful colored glass swan. Its wings were tipped blue, and beak red. "Here, mum!"

Lily took it gently. "Why thank you. Is this from both of you?"

"Just Tom," Harry said shortly.

Lily looked worriedly at Harry for a moment, but the smiled at Tom and said "Thank-you. I'll put it in the china cabinet."

Tom looked proud.

Later that night, Harry said "Why'd you go off and make that? I thought we were just gonna give her the rose, else I would have made something else too!"

"I said we _should _just make her that; I never said I wouldn't make her something else, too. Besides, whatever you made would never have been better than mine," Tom said, "so why does it matter?"

For the first time in a long time, Harry felt truly angry. He clenched his fists. The lights started to flicker, and a lamp broke.

Lily walked in and once she saw nobody was hurt, she said sternly "Harry! Control yourself!"

The lights stopped flickering and Tom absently repaired the lamp with a wave of his hand.

"I'm going to bed," Harry said and laid down. Before he closed his eyes, he saw Tom smirk at him.

o.O.v.O.o

The next day the two brothers pretended that nothing had happened, but ever since then they could tell something had changed between them. Harry never fully trusted Tom anymore, and the snake of jealousy in his stomach began to churn more and more. As Harry learned more about magic (mostly with help from his brother) Tom seemed to be ten steps ahead. Harry read all the books thoroughly, and while he knew all about the theory, Tom seemed to be able to glance at the book for a few seconds and be able to do a spell like that.

Eventually, it was time for Harry to go to Hogwarts. Harry didn't go to Diagon Ally; instead his mum had bought him everything he needed, and took his measurements for robes. Ollivander even came to his home, and after many floo trips back and forth to his shop he produced a beautiful black wand: Ebony and Phoenix feather, 9 1/3 inches.

The night before Harry was set to go to the platform, Lily stopped him from getting ready for bed and pulled him into the living room for a private chat. Tom was already dressed and lying down, so they wouldn't be bothered.

"Harry, I think you're old enough now to know about your father."

"Is he dead?" Harry asked. He'd feared as such for a few years now since they had never seen him, or if Harry had seen him he'd been too young to remember.

"What? No!"

"Then he's coming home?"

Lily looked about to cry, but the tears didn't fall. "I'm sorry, Harry. Your father – some powerful people think he did something bad, but he didn't do it."

Harry's eyes widened. "So he's in Azkaban?"

Lily nodded. "Some people might be mean and tease you because of it, but ignore them! He's been wrongfully accused, and remember: _Your father did nothing wrong._ One day I'm going to get him out, and we'll be a happy family again."

Harry could almost believe his mother, if not for her wavering smile. "Alright," he said, "I won't let it bother me." He was in such a state of shock that he didn't think to ask what his father was accused of.

Lily hugged Harry. "That's a good boy. Go get some sleep. We're leaving early tomorrow."

Harry nodded and went into the bedroom he shared with his brother.

"You awake?" Harry asked Tom after he'd lain down.

"Yeah," Tom said. "What'd mum tell you?"

Harry paused, wondering if he should tell his brother. Obviously his mother didn't want Tom to know, since she pulled Harry aside, but in the end brotherly loyalty won out. "Dad's not on a business trip. He's in Azkaban for something he didn't do."

"I know," Tom admitted, "I was listening from the hallway."

"Then why ask?" Harry asked, annoyed, but Tom didn't answer.

o.O.v.O.o

He gave his mum and brother one last hug. The train blew its whistle, signalling its approaching departure.

"You'll write when you can?" Tom asked.

"Course, every week at least. I expect you to do the same."

"Do well," their mother said. "Learn lots, and remember what I told you."

Tom looked at them with a questioning and slightly… betrayed? look on his face, but Harry nodded. He still remembered his mother's words about becoming strong enough to protect his brother, even from himself. "I'll be top of my class. Promise."

She ruffled his hair, much to his chagrin (not that it mattered, it was a rats nest half the time anyways) and gave her son a bright smile. "That's my Harry. Now, on the train with you!"

"See you over the holidays!" Tom said, waving as Harry got onto the train just before it was set to leave.

Harry patted his pockets, making sure his shrunken trunk was in one pocket and wand in the other, then began looking for a compartment. The first compartment he saw had two girls and a boy in it and they looked friendly, so he knocked on the door. "Be confident," he said quietly to himself, and when the door opened he smiled and asked "room for one more?"

"Ye-" a pink-faced blonde girl with pigtails said, but her friend elbowed her in the ribs. "Ow!"

"No, sorry," the other girl, Chinese, said. "We have more friends coming."

"We do?" the boy said.

"Shut up, Ernie! He's…" the Chinese girl lowered her voice conspicuously, "James Potter's son."

The other girl and Ernie gasped. "No!" one of them exclaimed.

"That's why he's got to leave," The Chinese girl continued.

"I'll- just go," Harry said, and as he left he swore the three of them sighed in relief.

He tried a few compartments, but after getting the evil eye in every one of them, he hastily left. It wasn't until the train started moving that he said "Alright, this is it. No matter who's in this one, I'm staying."

Determined, Harry slid open the compartment door.


End file.
